What is Cryonics?

Question

and what are the process , advantages ,disadvantages and all detail n what is alcor

Answer 1

its a theory thtayou can preserve a dead body and revive it in the future. go to nationalgeographic.com. cuz they did a show on it. but it is all a big theory

Answer 2

"Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and other animals that can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine until resuscitation may be possible in the future." Cryonics is based on the supposition that in the future all diseases can be cured and that elderly people can be rejuvenated to a condition of permanent youth. And on the supposition that any damage currently caused by the cryopreservation process can be reversed with molecular repair technology or wholesale replacement of defective organs.

The goal of cryonics is to cool as quickly as possible after pronoucement of death, while administering medications to reduce damage. Under the best conditions circulation can be restored with a heart-lung machine ("thumper"), which keeps tissues alive and hastens cooling. Storage at liquid nitrogen temperature means that tissue structure can remain essentially unchanged for centuries, if necessary, while awaiting the necessary repair technologies.

The advantage to cryonics is that it offers a potential for living hundreds of thousands of years in a youthful condition. The future is getting increasingly exciting and many of us would like to live to see and participate in future adventures. The disadvantage is that it might not work and that it costs money. But for people who are in good health and not too elderly, the cost can be covered by making a cryonics organization the beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

Alcor, along with the Cryonics Institute, is one of the two largest cryonics organizations.

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Reply to andymanec

I have added a reference at the bottom of my references which will explain the scientific basis of cryonics to those who mistakenly believe the validity of cryonics rests on the current ability to revive a mammal. Science is based on model-building and indirect evidence. No one has ever seen a proton, a neutron or an electron. Nuclear waste material is stored on  containment methods which are expected to last hundreds of thousands of years. It is a subjective judgment to say that it is wild speculation to believe in these containment methods or the existence of protons. Aging is due to identifiable damage to tissues which could be repaired by sufficient molecular repair technology. Vitrification can eliminate freezing damage to tissues. Brain tissue which is well-preserved as seen under an electron microscope would have minor damage which should not be challenging for future technology to repair. To say that future technology will have no more capability than current technology is not science.

Answer 3

Candice has some good information, but doesn't mention that cryonics hasn't been shown to work yet.  So far, scientists haven't been able to thaw and revive a frozen mammal.  It's compounded by the fact that the freezing takes place after death, and is facilitated by circulation of a toxic solution (that functions like antifreeze) to prevent ice crystal formation (that would destroy cells).

Right now, it's simply an expensive method of preservation, and no different from standard embalming, since there is no way to revive a dead and frozen individual.  What's more, it's unlikely to become possible to revive a person frozen in this method... in other words, to successfully preserve a person, it's the freezing process that's likely to be more important (and finicky) than the thawing process.

As it stands, though, most cryonics companies don't make many claims about being thawed out.  They make some wild speculations about future technology (lots of stuff about preserving the structure of the brain, such that it could later be scanned and encoded into a computer), but no actual promises.  Nevertheless, I don't think the technology is viable, and it's simply a way to give people false hope (and make a tidy profit in the meantime).  I'd go so far as to call it pseudoscience.